Community Transit ready to order up double-decker buses

Community Transit is finalizing plans to spend about $17 million to purchase 17 new double-decker buses to replace aging articulated buses on its daily commuter routes to Seattle.

The order means the agency that serves Snohomish County will have 40 of the buses they call Double Talls. That’s the second largest fleet of double-deckers in the nation behind Las Vegas.

Community Transit’s current fleet of 23 Double Talls carries about 10,000 riders into and out of downtown Seattle every week. A list of routes they operate on can be found at www.communitytransit.org/doubletall.

The new Double Talls will replace the oldest model of 60-foot articulated buses in the commuter fleet, which were manufactured in 1999.

The Double Tall can fit 30 percent more riders than the buses they are replacing and they also get better gas mileage, according to the agency.

Community Transit is using about $10 million in federal bus replacement funds for the purchase. The Legislature this year also awarded $3.9 million to Community Transit to buy Double Tall buses for Seattle commuter service. Community Transit will spend about $2.5 million from its bus replacement reserves for the order.

The final price of the buses is still being negotiated.

The Community Transit’s Board of Directors is expected to vote on the purchase in September. If approved by the board, it will take about 18-24 months for the buses to be built and delivered.